The Portland State Women's Soccer Team opened its fall practice on Wednesday morning at Stott Community Field. The Vikings, under third-year Head Coach Maureen Whitney, are preparing for the 2026 season, which opens in earnest on Aug. 13 when the Viking host Oregon at Hillsboro Stadium. That will be the first of eight home matches in a 17-match regular season.
 
The Vikings will work out from 8-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. each day excluding Mondays leading up the first match.
 
One of the top defensive teams in the Big Sky Conference last season, the Vikings will vie to improve upon a fourth-place finish in league play. A roster of 25 players includes 15 returning letterwinners. There are 11 seniors on the team with five that are in their fourth year in the program. That experience will be valuable to the Vikings success in 2026.
 
Past All-Big Sky Conference honorees Grace Sarabia, Aliayha Saldana and Elle Frazier will undoubtedly lead the squad into the season.
 
Sarabia led the Vikings in minutes played last season. She had two goals and 24 shots while earning second team All-Big Sky honors as a midfielder.
 
Saldana, the 2024 Big Sky Freshman of the Year, did NOT have a sophomore slump. The forward posted a team-high 35 shots with two goals and an assist and was named honorable mention All-Big Sky in 2025.
 
The Vikings missed Frazier at forward last year as she sat out 2025 with injury. She was a second-team All-Big Sky choice in 2024 when her five goals led the Vikings. Frazier's potency on offense will be significant to PSU's success in 2026.
 
A solid defensive line returns for Portland State. PSU allowed only five goals in eight conference matches in 2025. Much of that stinginess on defense can be attributed to the talents of seniors Kamaria Hughes, Kainani Jacang and Josie DeLine.
 
The Vikings were 3-3-2 in Big Sky Conference play in 2025, placing fourth in the league. It was a step up from the 2024 season, when PSU was 2-3-3. In order to continue that progress, the Vikings will need to continue to defend as they did last season. Gone though is main goalkeeper Natalie Cunningham (three shutouts in BSC matches). With four starts in 2025, Finley Crabtree has experience in goal and she will battle her own sister, Kieran – a transfer from San Francisco State, and CSU Bakersfield transfer Alyssa Green for time in the net.
 

SOCCER PRESEASON NOTES

• Portland State comes off a 4-9-4 season in 2025. The Vikings were 3-3-2 in the Big Sky Conference, earning the number-four seed in the Big Sky Tournament. PSU lost to Idaho, 1-0, in a quarterfinal match… PSU was 2-4-2 at home and 2-4-2 in road matches, going 0-1-0 in neutral matches.
• Head Coach Maureen Whitney (Sacramento State, 2001) begins her third year as Head Coach. She has an 8-18-9 career record, 5-6-5 in Big Sky Conference matches. Whitney is in her 10^th season with the Viking program.
• The Vikings have 15 returning letterwinners to the roster for 2026… top returners include JR MF Grace Sarabia, a second team All-Big Sky Conference selection and JR F Aliayha Saldana, who received Big Sky honorable mention… the Vikings also return SR F Elle Frazier, who was a second-team All-Big Sky Conference selection in 2024. Frazier had a team-high five goals. She missed 2025 due to a medical redshirt.
• JR F Aliayha Saldana has led the Vikings in shots on goal the past two season with 51 in 2024 and 35 in 2025… Saldana was the 2024 Big Sky Freshman of the Year after tallying three goals, two assists and a Big Sky-leading 3.28 shots per game.
• SR F Elle Frazier started every match in 2023 and 2024 (36) and has started 51 of 53 career matches… JR F Aliayha Saldana has started all 35 matches of the past two seasons.
• SISTER ACT: SR GK Finley Crabtree is the only returning netminder on the roster. She played four matches in 2025, allowing seven goals (1.75) and had a 1-2-1 record… her sister, SO TR Kieran Crabtree joins her as a goalie on the roster after transferring from San Francisco State.
• FROM THE WINDY CITY TO THE RAINY CITY: JR MF Gabby Flores and SR MF Renee Davis are both transfers from Chicago State. They were the Cougars top two scorers in 2025. Davis had four goals and two assists while Flores had three goals and three assists.
• Three Vikings — SO MF McKenna Eggleston, SO D Gianelly Gargurevich, and SO F Claire Masters — are from Tigard, Oregon, where they played together at Tigard High School under head coach Scott Eggleston (McKenna's father).
• Portland State has 11 Oregonians on the roster, 10 of which are from the Portland metro area… in the era of the transfer portal, PSU has 11 players on the roster who competed at other four-year schools.
• The Big Sky Conference expands this season with the addition of Utah Tech and Southern Utah (despite the departure of Sacramento State). There are now nine conference matches (rather than eight). PSU will play four at home and five on the road… overall, the Vikings have 17 scheduled matches, with eight at home and nine on the road… among non-conference opponents, California Baptist, now a member of the Big West Conference, won the Western Athletic Conference last season and competed in the NCAA Tournament. San Diego State and Boise State were powerhouses in the Mountain West Conference last season, with the Broncos going 8-0-2 in league play… PSU plays at University of Portland on Sept. 10.

 

2025 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

• Portland State comes off a 4-9-4 season in 2025. The Vikings were 3-3-2 in the Big Sky Conference, earning the number-four seed in the Big Sky Tournament. The Vikings had been picked eighth in preseason polling… PSU lost to Idaho, 1-0, in a quarterfinal match… PSU was 2-4-2 at home and 2-4-2 in road matches, going 0-1-0 in neutral matches.
• Portland State had six players earn All-Big Sky Conference honors. They included: First Team: Kalo Iongi (Sr., D); Second Team: Natalie Cunningham (R-Jr., GK); Grace Sarabia (So., MF); Honorable Mention: Ocean Rideout (Sr., F); Aliayha Saldana (So., F); Liv Frazier (Sr., D). It was the most honors for PSU in more than a decade. Cunningham was the first Viking goalkeeper to earn an all-conference honor since 2015 and the first to receive a second team nod since 2012.
• Ocean Rideout was the team scoring leader with four goals and two assists for 10 points… Aliayha Saldana led the team with 35 shots, had two goals and an assist for five points… Grace Sarabia also had two goals for the Vikings… eight different players scored goals and eight different players had assists.
• Natalie Cunningham started 13 of 17 matches and had a 1.15 GAA, making 64 saves. Cunningham had three shutouts with all three coming in Big Sky Conference play… Finley Crabtree played four matches, compiling a 1.75 GAA with 18 saves.
• Portland State allowed only five goals in eight conference matches and not more than one in any match. PSU led the Big Sky with an .894 save percentage.
• 14 members of the roster earned Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors: Alexi Cataldi, Business Administration: Marketing; Camilla Contreras Bran, Psychology; Josie DeLine, Electrical Engineering; Liv Frazier, Business Administration: Management and Leadership; Kamaria Hughes, Science; Kalo Iongi, Business Administration: Management and Leadership; Kainani Jacang, Business Administration: Marketing; Claire Masters, Public Health Studies: Pre-Clinical; Bianca Potesta, Psychology; Ocean Rideout, Criminology and Criminal Justice; Aliayha Saldana, Business Economics; Grace Sarabia, Business Administration: Marketing; Sydney Spotts, Applied Health and Fitness; Maya Wells, Business Administration: Management and Leadership